Rail Board To Assume New Identity: Metra

The year-old agency that operates the region`s commuter trains is about to trade in its name for one with more pizazz, officials said Wednesday.

The Commuter Rail Service Board is expected to become Metra on Friday at a meeting of the agency`s board.

A combination of the words metropolitan and rail, Metra ``suggests movement and activity,`` consultant Norman Din told the board at a briefing on Wednesday. Din`s firm, Din & Pangrazio Inc., produced 150 possible new monikers, a list that was narrowed to 4 before Metra was selected.

The rail board, created during a reorganization of the Regional Transportation Authority, is one of three RTA operating subsidiaries. The others are the Chicago Transit Authority and another new agency responsible for operating suburban buses. That entity several months ago decided to call itself Pace, which is not an acronym.

Jeffrey Ladd, rail board chairman, said the new name will bring a unified identity to the commuter rail service.

``Radio traffic reporters in particular have had a hard time describing us, and usually end up referring to `RTA trains,` `` he said. ``The RTA transferred title to all commuter rail assets to the rail board last year, and we have a real need to let the commuting public know that there is one agency that concentrates solely on rail.``

The new white-on-royal-blue Metra logo will be affixed to most commuter rail cars within months, and locomotives gradually will get new paint jobs as part of a continuing rehabilitation program, officials said. The Metra logo also will be on new station signs to be installed throughout the rail system early next year.